"How Meditation Affects Your Brain"

Have we talked about this yet?

Perhaps only individually with our masters, private messages, or through the IP. I know psychologists suggest it, that there are, in fact beneficial healthy properties to it... Positive effects...

You mean is there a thread where we have discussed it... ? :silly:
I do not know, but many links have been provided by Zenchi, through the wall, which provide insight to the effects of the brain...

Personally, I see I smile more, understand with a clearer perspective, and think more thoroughly through my process of thoughts, critically contemplating by introspection...

Thanks for the link. I look forward to looking at the brain regions in more detail when I get some extra time.

TLDR wrote: In conclusion, the present results support the notion that nondirective meditation, which permits mind wandering, involves more extensive activation of brain areas associated with episodic memories and emotional processing, than during concentrative practicing or regular rest.

So a wandering mind has more brain activity then a non-wandering or resting mind.... :whistle: :lol: ... sounds about right.

I do wonder what they mean by a resting mind though, as my mind wanders when I rest it :blink:

The FMRI data proves that something is going on during meditation but they do not know exactly what is going on. They are trying to interpret data about an organ they still know very little about. It is clear and understood I the scientific community that there are benefits to meditation, but there is still a lot of research to be done.

I haven't meditated in a long time (something I need to get back into my schedule) but when I do I let my mind wander, which if I'm not mistaken is also called Zazen meditation. It clarifies my thoughts, sorts them out, and even gives birth to new ideas that I wouldn't have otherwise thought of.

I highly recommend it

EEJim wrote: The FMRI data proves that something is going on during meditation but they do not know exactly what is going on.

This.

Meditation does something to the mind/body. What those effects are? We're not certain. But, people have been doing it for centuries, if not longer. The act of letting the mind settle itself out may be an integral part to clear living.

If you think about it, our lives are much more complicated than they have to be. We could be basic and just hunt for food, screw people, and then go to bed fat and happy. But, we don't. Over time, we've settled in villages by water, we started asserting dominance over each other, we invented gods to show that things are not totally under our control, we subverted women and made them servants, we found science, and we expanded across the whole of the Earth. Finally, we invented technology, the synthesis of knowledge.

All of this because, why?

Why did we do this? Why did we keep expanding?

Power? Hunger? Desire? Greed?

Maybe. But, I think it is a product of something simpler: growth. Life is designed to grow. Humans have reached a level where survival (in the first world anyway) is not the first thing on our minds. It has been dulled. Other pursuits have replaced it... We now equivocate getting an A in school with our survival instinct. Or, getting ahead at work.

Being able to put food on the table has never been more important. It's our new survival instinct.

With all of these complex changes in the world... the mind is working hard to put it all together. We try and process so much "needless" information. We read books, we have relationships, we browse the internet...

No wonder meditation is helpful.

It stops the inflow of conscious information (at least, complex information) and allows the complex thoughts in queue in the brain to shuffle towards the synapse strengthening booth. Memories have time to settle. Yes, dreams do that as well. But, doing it in the day is beneficial.

That's my hypothesis. People have just realized over time that we have over-complicated what our species is "supposed" to experience. And, it's not a bad thing. But, constantly pushing our minds to work harder and harder without any settling is like driving a car at 80 mph for 80 years straight. Even with pulling over for gas... the car is going to be falling apart long before it reaches that goal.

Meditation is self-repair, self-recovery, and self-evaluation. It is taking stock of where we are in the present moment, and diagnosing problems if there are any.

If you find yourself dwelling on the birthday party you missed last week... maybe it's time to resolve the issue. If it's invading your meditation time... fix it! You know, get up from where you're sitting and call the person and apologize. Offer to make it up to them. That's a dumb example, but it gets the point across that we are either burying the problem behind distraction or we are not even realizing it's a problem.

Sorry for the ramble, but in my experience the benefits of "sitting still and letting thoughts settle as they will" (which we call meditation, or at least one form of it) are endless and can be helpful every single day.

Lotta good in that ramble Connor. I need to work on getting up right then and acting when I recognize something that is bothering me during meditation.

I think that's something people don't recognize when they do meditation. I certainly didn't for a long time. There may be benefits inherent to the process, like I discussed above. But, at the same time, it can also be used for diagnosis.

I think of it this way:

If you're driving a car, and you feel something is off, what do you do? You take it to a mechanic, right? They take a look at it and diagnose the problem. I DOUBT that your mechanic follows you on a high speed chase down a highway trying to look in your engine and see where the leak is. It isn't until you stop the car, and examine the condition of the machine, that you see what the problem is.

Then... you fix it!

Same with meditation. We keep going and going and doing stuff every day. But, being at peace with sitting still is a great ability. We can "stop the car", and look under the hood.

Connor L. wrote: Same with meditation. We keep going and going and doing stuff every day. But, being at peace with sitting still is a great ability. We can "stop the car", and look under the hood.

Until quite recently my brain was going 100mph with thoughts, now it's about half; this week I've been meditating every day and it's amazing how much quieter my mind is already and how much less I talk to myself now. Wish I'd started doing this sooner.

With regards to the link, it would be interesting to see the results of fMRI on people who are inexperienced in meditation and the difference in meditation activity compared to usual thinking activity.

If you're driving a car, and you feel something is off, what do you do? You take it to a mechanic, right? They take a look at it and diagnose the problem. I DOUBT that your mechanic follows you on a high speed chase down a highway trying to look in your engine and see where the leak is. It isn't until you stop the car, and examine the condition of the machine, that you see what the problem is.

Actually, more often than not, a mechanic either rides in the car, or takes it for a drive himself to diagnose the problem. Unless the car absolutely cannot run, however, its easier to diagnose the problem while the car is in motion.


I have never agreed that one needs to be still to meditate.

I have always viewed meditation as steps until one can meditate in action, rather than needing to take breaks.

In fact, giving yourself fully to any given action also stops the inflow of of information as well.

Most people these days have the inability to even focus there attention fully in the moment in any given action.